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Q and A 1185 and SG5 follow up


67101C
21-Sep-2022

Q&Q 1185 references robots momentarily breaking the 18" or 24" limits when they drive over a disk.

Q and A 1185 reads as follows:

"At most, this would be considered a warning, although in most cases this would simply be considered standard gameplay and not addressed by the Head Referee."

And SG5 also reads:

"These will likely only result in a warning, if no gameplay interference occurs"

Driving over a disc is almost always not gameplay affecting. However, the Q and A did not address issues where momentarily breaking expansion could affect gameplay. Would these examples be considered "gameplay interference"?

Example 1: A red robot height, blocks the exit from the low goal, the blue robot, sized at 18", drives over the barrier to escape, causing their robot height to momentarily be 20" from the floor.

Example 2: An 18" tall robot notices that their angle of elevation is too low to make disks in the high goal , they drive onto barrier to increase their angle of elevation as they launch disks, momentarily making their height 20".

The argument could be made that it is a team's own responsibility to know the size of their robot, and the team would be making a conscious decision to drive over the barrier thus intentionally violating the rule intentionally. Also, this violation would strategically impact gameplay as it would save the team time rather than driving around the barrier.

Thanks for your time!

Answered by committee

Q and A 1185 reads as follows: "At most, this would be considered a warning, although in most cases this would simply be considered standard gameplay and not addressed by the Head Referee."

And SG5 also reads: "These will likely only result in a warning, if no gameplay interference occurs"

Driving over a disc is almost always not gameplay affecting. However, the Q and A did not address issues where momentarily breaking expansion could affect gameplay. Would these examples be considered "gameplay interference"?

Your specific questions are extremely context-sensitive, and we cannot provide blanket answers that will accommodate all possible situations.

In any situation where a Robot's actions and its potential effects on gameplay must be interpreted, it is up to the Head Referee to determine whether a Minor or Major Violation should or should not be awarded. As described in the 3rd Violation Note of <SG5>, if the Head Referee judges that the expansion was intentional, strategic, and/or Match Affecting, it should be considered a Major Violation.